Preparing My Child For Kindergarten

You should start preparing your child for school as early as you can. You want your child to be well prepared, so she can handle the transition easily. Many times children who aren't used to the school or being away from their parents, aren't as ready for the challenges of school as other kids are.

In the months leading up to when you'll need to make the decision about whether to enroll your child into kindergarten, you'll want to take certain steps to start figuring out whether you're child is ready for such a change. Life is full of new experiences for youngsters, so to a certain degree you need to be aware that sometimes the best way to find out how ready your child is for the kindergarten learning experience is to simply enroll her in school and see how she does.

One of the best things you can do is to take your child to the school in the early summer months before the fall when your child will start school. Introduce your child to the school and tell her what goes on in the building and what to expect. Walk into the classroom if you can. This may build excitement about the situation for your child.

Introduce your child to her teacher, if you can. Let your son or daughter realize that you and her teacher will get along great... and that the teacher is a good person. Help your child feel more comfortable around the teacher.

Talk with your child about her concerns about going to school. Tell her about what it was like when you started kindergarten and about how afraid you were. But help her understand what school will be like as much as you can. Be open. Don't discourage your child from telling you how she feels about school.

You'll perhaps want your child to spend more and more time away from the home and away from you. Perhaps this means letting your child play with your neighbor's kids for a couple hours in an afternoon, or stay with grandparents or aunts and uncles for awhile. This is an opportunity for your children to communicate with people other than you and for them to get used to being away from home. This can relieve the separation anxiety that sometimes happens to children when they first go to school.

Once your child is in kindergarten, it's your job as a parent to help her learn. Don't rely solely on your child's teachers to do all the work. Help your child with her homework. Talk with her about what she is learning. Continue the educational process at home.

Kindergarten can be a trying time for kids. It's something they've never experienced before, and at such a young age, anything drastically new like kindergarten can be difficult. It can be quite an emotional time. But if you ease the strains of kindergarten and of other times that can be emotionally difficult as early as possible, you'll all be better off.